Page 18 of Queen Isabella

That is curious.Not the way he communicated; speaking telepathically was the Vorto way.How can I communicate with our queen now?he wondered, equally intrigued.

He’d been so overwhelmed by her intoxicating scent and the need to mount her, he hadn’t even questioned why he didn’t understand her. He’d never known a queen, perhaps females had their own language. They certainly had their own intoxicating scent and luscious form.

“We are already bonding as a hive,” Bellator chimed in with an explanation.

“That must be the reason,” Phara agreed with his fellow alpha. Bonding with their queen was monumental. There was an exchange of hormones, emotions, and bodily fluid. That had to be the reason they understood each other now. “I do feel changed, my queen.”

“Oooh, there’s that word again.” Their queen rolled off Bellator and warily panned them again, her breath coming out faster.

Clearly their explanation for why they could now understand each other didn’t sit well with her. He wished he had a better answer, but his people had forgotten a great deal about the queens since the Blight.

“What word?” Artifex helped her sit up.

“Queen! As in royalty, leader of all the people?!” she panted. “I’m no queen. I’m anything but.”

It was such an odd thing to say. She very plainly was a queen. He scented the proof and still tasted it on his tongue. He’d even buried himself in her channel.

Suddenly it occurred to Phara, she wasn’t speaking about her physiology. She was talking about her new life as part of their hive. He’d never considered how a queen might feel, because he never expected to find one.

Well, it’s time to think about your queen!he admonished himself.

In the few tales that had been passed down through the generations, he knew his queen mother had emerged in the Nemus Hive. It was why the Nemus were their allies. As the stories told, a queen must leave her hive. She could not bear the hatchlings of her brethren; the young didn’t form right. Leaving all that she knew had to be hard, though. He’d lived his whole life in the mountains and couldn’t imagine living elsewhere. As hard as that must have been, he doubted his mother had the traumatic voyage his queen had in getting here.

Besides violently leaving her hive, she was also transitioning into a bonded queen, the same as he had gone from a single to a bonded consort alpha. This had to be very overwhelming and frightening for her.

“All will be well.” Phara smiled encouragingly at the anxious female. “I know this is new for you. It is new for us, too. We haven’t had a queen in four generations.” He gestured to the other two alphas.

Their queen still looked confused, blinking her brown and white eyes at him.

“We found your damaged egg. We know there was an accident as you traveled with your hive. You never need to fear that again. I will trade my life to assure your safety.” Bellator bowed down as he made the vow.

“And I will care for your every need. You will never want for anything,” Artifex solemnly added.

“And I will hold you close, so you won’t miss your old hive as much,” Phara promised, taking her tiny hands in his.

Despite their oath, rain began falling from their queen’s eyes, tearing him up inside.

“Please, my queen,” Phara begged as he pulled her into his arms. “All will be well. You are safe.” He didn’t know what else to say.

“I can’t believe all this,” their little queen sobbed. “You found me, healed me, fed me, and now you want to protect and care for me.” She buried her face against his chest as the rain continued to fall from her eyes.

His queen was hurting. Often over the years he’d suffered deeply as he questioned his purpose in the hive, so he understood that deep pain that had nothing to do with physical injuries. The only thing that had gotten him through was his hive, so he did as he promised and held their queen close.

“All will be well, precious one,” he crooned as he rubbed her back.

Artifex

Artifex worriedly looked on as their queen sobbed against Phara’s chest. Her strident sounds made him ache.

“I thought we said the right things.” Artifex looked toward Bellator who was equally distressed.

Their queen pulled away from Phara and turned to them. “You said the right things. It just hurts because no one back home ever said those things. No one except my mother and my sister even cared. When bad things happened to me, my brother and father were certain it was my fault. If I wasn’t already cast out, they would have locked me up for what we just did,” she said the last part softly then visibly shuddered.

Anger overwhelmed Artifex. “The males of your hive abused you?!” He couldn’t fathom such a thing.

“No one will do anything to you for becoming our queen!” Bellator relayed with a growl.

“You are ours now.” Phara’s arms tightened around her.

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